Doom Update

As today is the last day of February, I'm a little bit surprised that my SIGIL box hasn't come in the mail yet. (According to this update, production has been pushed back to April). I haven't been terribly concerned by the delay, not because I'm not eager to play these new levels, but because it's taken me this long just to go back through all the original levels again - from Ultimate Doom's four 9-level episodes, to Doom II's 32 levels, and including Final Doom (which consists of two separate Doom II-size mission packs [two of the most memorable and inspired levels being Wormhole, and Hunted]) - which I'd wanted to do before I played the new ones. Now I guess I still have twenty-five years of the best fan-produced levels according to Doomworld's Cacowards (for which I've been toying with the idea of writing some reviews) to keep me company until that time comes. In between working on my own level, of course - because playing other people's levels is always good for inspiration.

And I have been working on that level. Although constantly cursing my overambition (why couldn't I start with a simple "space base" level?), I've made a lot of progress over the last month and a half, though the level isn't quite nearing completion just yet. I'm realizing that there is one element in particular that's holding me back, and that's this idea I have in my head of constructing a city block (which is an integral part of the level I decided to work on). In addition to the question of where to position all the different elements of the level, there is the challenge of building a 3D-looking and feeling landscape in what is essentially a 2D engine. Since you can't put rooms on top of rooms, the trick with buildings is that you can either have an interior, or a roof, but not both. You can create the appearance of a roof, looking up from below, but you can't walk on it, nor can you view it from above - and I intend the player to rise above street level in the course of navigating this level (working his way up from the sewers to the rooftops).

Now, that doesn't mean there aren't workarounds - some of the most memorable levels, including in Doom II, simulate city blocks (particularly Downtown, and Industrial Zone). You can mix false facades with accessible roofs and the like, but depending on where you put what, it may or may not look good, and I want to create a sense of immersion in this level. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that I have underground sections too. So, that's the thing that's tripping me up and slowing me down. On the topic of what I have accomplished, I have a cell block where the level begins, a tunnel leading into a sewer infrastructure that can be shaped as necessary when I get the overall layout of the level worked out, a bath house that I'm quite excited about, and the latest monstrosity I've been working on: a courtyard flanked on three sides by an apartment building, complete with a reception area, several rooms, working elevators, and fire escapes.

I look forward to taking all kinds of screenshots later, when things are a little more settled (one of the unexpectedly harder elements to level building for me is interior design - not furniture, necessarily, but matching floor, ceiling, and wall textures). There are a lot of good pieces in my level, but it has yet to come together as a whole. Another thing I need is a title. The working title is "sexxxydoom", but as the original idea was for a total conversion, and this iteration of the level removes everything "sexxxy" about it, I don't think that's going to work. I'm thinking something along the lines of "demon beast invasion", if that's not too generic, because that's the general idea behind this level.